it's the top of the hour, thanks for starting your day with us. want to start off with one of our top stories here. the weather, of course. sandy has been downgraded to a tropical storm, but all along the east coast, people are bracing for it to regain strength before it actually makes landfall . in the northeast, there are fears that sandy could become a superstorm dumping heavy rains and downing power lines across several states and check out these images that we're getting from ft. lauderdale, florida. ocean waves spilling on to city streets there. the national hurricane center has issued tropical storm warnings and watches for parts of florida and the carolinas. alexandria steele joining us with more on this storm's path. what have you found out in the last couple of minutes? >> this is an incredible, powerful, hybrid of a storm and you talked about the track. the track with this, a lot of consensus. here's a look. this is saturday morning, the center of circulation. right now we've got tropical

storm force winds extending 450 miles out from the center. it's a behemoth of a storm. so, here's the potential, again, to move northeast, expecting sunday night into monday you can see the center of circulation coming onshore in the del marva somewhere between new york and washington, d.c. worst coastal damage just north of where that center makes landfall. but on this map, i have anywhere of ten iches of rain to 10 to 20 inches of snow in the mountains of west virginia. so, one thing we have going for us in terms of the computer models, really quite a consensus. typically this time of year a tropical storm moves eastward and that's the end of it. gets picked up in the polar jet and takes it out to the atlantic. not so with this. an area of high pressure that is steering it back and that's the way it is going to go. you can see there is the consensus with this. also, in 25iariy years of compu modeling never this set-up of a storm. the moisture from the tropical elements and the area of low

pressure potentially more like a nor'easter fusing together. what we can see here potentially is an incredible amount of flooding. so, what we have with this, flooding rain and also power outages really will be incredible. look at the power outages from connecticut all the way down to the carolinas. widespread power outages that could last for days. you know the scenario when you get this much in terms of power outages takes a long time. ten inches of rain and this is only potentially by monday morning. we'll talk more about this and where it will go tuesday, wednesday, coming up. sandy is nat just a dangerous storm, but could have huge political ramifications. take a look at this picture we put together showing some of the campaign layers impacted by a major storm hitting the gulf coast. we have seen the campaign events across the country delayed or canceled and also we told you to expect huge travel delays, in addition to impacting millions of travelers, the campaigns will have to take last-minute maneuvering.

a major storm hitting the most densely populated center of the country could divert local media coverage to weather and news and the rescues and recoveries and meaning less visibility for the candidates. a cnn political editor paul steinhouser joins me now for more on the live political fallout from this storm. live in pensacola, florida. what are the campaigns doing right now to prepare, paul? how big of a deal could this be for the parties? >> it could be a big deal. mitt romney behind me here at the civic center later today and his three events in california are still on and it's pretty windy right here thanks to sandy but we're not going to get the storm at all on this side of florida. the campaigns are monitoring the situation and they have contingency plans and some events canceled this weekend in both virginia and in new hampshire. two very important battleground states and if the storm is very strong and does some damage, it could be a problem, of course,

for the campaigns as they schedule and as they do beef up their get out the vote efforts. both campaigns tell me, listen, safety comes first and safety of the people affected is much more important than politics. one other thing, victor, if this is a serious storm, expect there to be a lot of scrutiny of how president obama handles the situation. that could be a factor on election day, as well, victor. >> always storm politics, we saw after it after katrina and after any natural or man-made disa disaster. let's talk about these schedules. they have made changes and, as of now, the president will still campaign in new hampshire today and romney headed to florida. what do we know about their schedules moving forward? >> well, as you mentioned, romney still headed to where i am in pensacola and other stops on the schedule today, as well. vice president biden, one of his events in virginia has been canceled and some other cancellations, as well. we'll look to see as we go into sunday and monday what happens with the schedule. both campaign as keeping a very close eye on this storm and

affects not only the campaign, the campaigning by the candidates, but also the get out the vote efforts in the key battleground states. all this could be affected, victor? >> paul steinhauser in pensaco a pensacola, thank you. an coulter sent a tweet and she was on piers morgan last night where piers ask her about her intentions. >> why did you call -- >> at the end of the third debate. >> right. >> you did it because you knew it would be incendiary. i sent out a tweet that was relevant at the moment and it was because at the end of the third debate all the chitchat was why was romney so gentle? why didn't he go after obama on benghazi. why call the president of the united states a retard? >> because it's a synonym for

loser. we are spending two seconds because i'm angry at the word police and i need an encyclopedia to find out what words are appropriate. >> you can watch more of that interview at cnn.com/piersmorgan. harry reid has been released from the hospital after getting into a car crash in las vegas. vehicles in his motorcade crashed with a car that was not in the motorcade. the 72-year-old democrat suffered hip and rib contusions, but we are told he is in good condition. a threatening new video has surfaced on the web. it shows al zawahiri calls on muslims around the world to kidnap westerners. he said the president lied to the american people about the u.s. military withdrawal from iraq and the withdrawal from afghanistan. we have more ahead in this hour --

>> here's what's coming up. of the 50 states electing the president, these are the states that could swing either way. all morning we're putting the undecided states of america in focus. >> looks like it's going to be a pretty bad storm. sandy is barreling north. it could leave millions of people without power and the damage to the campaigns could be catastrophic. >> you're looking at the bernie madoff of sport. a shocking new documentary on lance armstrong's career. what he said under oath about the alleged doping ring. [ male announcer ] humana and walmart have teamed up to bring you a low-priced medicare prescription drug plan. ♪ with a low national plan premium... ♪ ...and copays as low as one dollar... ♪ ...saving on your medicare prescriptions is easy.

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the 2012 presidential election. this morning we're focusing on the usa. the undecided states of america. here's what i'm talking about. the country is pretty evenly divided, red and blue and now you've got a few yellow mixed in there. the undecided. so, let's strip away the undecided states and leaves us the swing states. the critical state that could swing the election one way or another. collectively, they're like their own little country, right? the winner of this pseudo country will be the winner overall. now, one of the undecided states is new hampshire, just four electoral votes. with us to talk about the battle for new hampshire is wane mcdonald the state gop chairman. good to have you. mitt romney has really come on there since the first debate, really growing in the polls. do you see the momentum carrying all the way through election day? >> i absolutely do. the polls i have seen show governor romney slightly ahead of president obama. we're working very, very hard.

we have a tremendous ground game and we're going to maintain this lead through election day. >> stirred up some controversy. let's listen. >> when you take a look at colin powell, you have to wonder whether that's an endorsement based on issues or whether he's got a slightly different reason for preferred president obama. >> what reason would that be? >> i think when you have somebody of your own race that you're proud of being president of the united states, i applaud colin for standing with him. >> he has also said that the president needs to learn to be an american. he said the president was lazy and incompetent. before we get into the they say things and both sides get a little heated, what place do these words have in this campaign and don't they really hurt you with the people you're going after, the independents who hate that? >> governor has admitted

comments weren't necessarily appropriate. but he remains a tremendous asset to the campaign. this campaign, this election is going to be based on the issues that face this country. >> why not talk about those? why call the president lazy and saying he needs to learn to be an american and the only reason he has the support of the former secretary of state and the five-star general is because he's black. if it's about the issues, talk about the issues, right? >> we are talking about the issues. other than a few side comments, but, predominantly, we have talked about the issues and those are primarily jobs and the economy. >> let's talk more about where we're moving forward with the ground game. president obama has an advantage in most of the swing states when it comes to the ground game, the campaign offices. how does mitt romney make up for his deficit there? >> well, here, the victory program that the republican national committee is operating

in conjunction with the various state parties has been very effective here in new hampshire. we organize north, east, south and west. we have hundreds of volunteers and a great victory staff and we have the inneenthusiasm and the drive. we're matching president obama. >> the other big story we're following is sandy, another tropical storm, but could really put a wrench in the plan for the campaigns. how is the state party working to compensate for that? >> well, because this is just a recent development, we are working with the, you know, we are working on various contingencies and those are in process even as i speak. the good news is sandy is hitting during this week. many of these problems resolved by election time and we're monitoring power outages and challenges that develop. those plans are in process right now. >> wayne mcdonald, good to have

you. >> thank you. coming up next, we'll get the reaction from the state's democratic chairman, raymond buckley. [ female announcer ] introducing yoplait greek 100. 100% new. 100% mmm... wow, that is mmm... it's so mmm you might not believe it's a hundred calories. new yoplait greek 100. it is so good. new yoplait greek 100. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal.

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ten months ago, mitt romney won the nation's first primary in new hampshire, now, that state is in the spotlight, again, as one of the undecided states of america. and we're focusing on those states this morning. new hampshire has just four electoral votes and that's enough to swing the final vote. a moment ago, i talk would the chairman of the new hampshire republican party. with us now is the state's democratic chair, raymond buckley. sir, it is good to have you with us. >> thank you, sir. >> president obama is in the

state today, joe biden is there tomorrow. there is a lot of action there for the democrats. is the president worried that he may not carry new hampshire as he did in '08? >> the president is very confident that we are. it's going to be a close race and we always said it is going to be close. this election here in new hampshire was decided by less than 1% in both 2000, 2004. there's no reason to believe that new hampshire is not going to be close, again, but when the votes are all counted, it will be under barack obama and joe biden. >> let's take a look at this poll, though, from the american research group. in september, the president had a sizable lead in new hampshire. five points over, but just two points in the most recent poll. is this the result of that lackluster first debate? what do you attribute this to? >> well, we always knew that the polls were going to tighten. clearly, the president said that he wished he had done better in that first debate, but at the end, i think that when the books are all written about this election, the debate probably won't be the largest factor in his victory.

>> all right, the president has 22 field offices in new hampshire. romney, the campaign there has nine. talk about the advantage that off aers. . >> we learned years ago having a strong, local centered ground opaeratio opo operation where people are empowered makes a big difference. to obama's victories in 2008 and certainly here in new hampshire in 2008 when we had a democratic sweep. i actually believe, although the results will all be close, we're going to hold on to the governor's office and pick up both congressional seats, as well as gain the majorities in the legislature. republicans had a big tea party year in 2010. >> let me ask you about a bit of a disconnect that the number in the stats for the state and how they may not really connect to the voters. the president won in new hampshire in 2008 by nine points.

unemployment is 5.7% below the national average. housing prices are up. he has twice as many field offices than romney and you say you expected it to get closer for the race to tighten. why is it the good news for new hampshire connecting with support for the president? i mean, there must be something that is not connecting there. >> well, i think that new hampshire, not only are we the focus every four years because of the new hampshire first in the nation primary, we have a large number of undecided or independent voters here in new hampshire, nearly 40%. they take the elections very seriously. they are late to decide. so, although it could be close, it might not be. >> late to decide, but what is, what is the difficulty with making the sale? all the numbers show that things are working well for them, maybe there's just something about the president's plan they don't like. >> no, i think that the people in new hampshire will be

supportive of the president and i think he'll be victorious on november 6th. >> all right, so, let's talk about early voting. new hampshire is one of the states with out early, in-person voting. does that hurt the democrats with all of the emphasis the president is putting on voting early a in other swing states? >> well, our program isn't exactly early voting. it's absentee voting and you will not be able to vote for physical or religious or you'll be out of town. it's not early voting, but we have a high percentage of people who vote preelection by virtue of the preelection ballot. >> i just spoke with the gop chair a few moments ago, i want to ask you about something the president said calling mitt romney a bser and what effect that will have on a tight race when the voters say they don't like this type of talk.

how will that affect the vote in new hampshire? >> well, i think people in new hampshire are more embarrassed about the behavior over the last several months against the president than whether or not the president used the exact right term on describing mitt romney. >> let's talk about sandy. this storm is coming up the coast, could be a catastrophic storm as it relates to the political machine and getting out the vote in the next ten days. how are the democrats preparing? >> listen, we're new hampshire, we're a hardy bunch. we'll get to the polls. we have among the highest voter turnout in the nation, whether it's in the primary or in the general election, even in the off years. you know, it's not unheard of to have a blizzard arrive on the new hampshire primary day and, still, our voters get out to vote. we'll make sure that we're prepared for it, but i have no doubt that we'll still have a record turnout and beat some of the states that are in the warmer climates.

>> and in places like ohio, democrats have done well in early voting. if sandy hits you, are you worried about the vote because you don't have the worry voting there? >> i'm a new hampshire democrat. i'm always worried about the vote. >> all right, raymond buckley, thank you very much, chairman of the new hampshire democratic party. coming up in our next hour, another undecided state of america, ohio. 18 electoral votes that have the potential to shake up this race. christi. this story moved so many people. a teenage girl shot in the head by the taliban now in a british hospital. more on her progress and also talk about a very special visitor who is coming to check up on her. stay close.

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[ male announcer ] the icy hot patch. goes on icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. so you're back to full speed. [ male announcer ] icy hot. power past pain. it is the bottom of the hour as you're waking up here with "cnn saturday morning." i hope saturday has been good for you so far. i'm christi paul in for randi kaye. >> i'm victor blackwell. thanks for starting your morning with us. we have five stories we're watching this morning. >> yeah, we want to give you the latest on sandy, first of all. downgraded to a tropical storm at this point, but, forecasters do expect it to regain strength by tomorrow night. now, sandy has maximum sustained winds of 70 miles per hour and heavy rains over an area that extends about 450 miles from its center right now. the storm is on a path toward

the central mid-atlantic states. these are live pictures we're looking at now in miami. of the view there in miami. it looks pretty at the mome. charleston, norfolk, virginia, atlantic city, you're all seeing some of this stuff. strong winds and rain could reach the northeast as early as monday. the company at the center of the deadly meningitis outbreak ignored warnings from its own environmental monitors. that's the finding from an fda report. it says monitors detected nearly 90 instances of mold and bacteria overgrowth in the new england compounding center clean room since january. well, 25 deaths have been blamed on the fungal meningitis outbreak linked to tainted medications produced by the company. in south carolina, social security information for millions of residents has been stolen in an international cyberattack, it seems. 3.6 million social secur